{"title":"Expression of Glial Cell Line-derived Neurotrophic Factor and Its Receptors in Glioblastoma.","authors":"Jesper Dupont Ewald, Arnon Møldrup Knudsen, Helle Wohlleben, Lone Christiansen, Signe Regner Michaelsen, Atul Anand, Bjarne Winther Kristensen","doi":"10.1369/00221554251374108","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glioblastoma is the most frequent and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults, and the prognosis is poor. The neurotrophic factor glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptors, which are involved in neuronal development, have in experimental studies been suggested to drive tumorigenic processes in glioblastoma, but the role and expression in glioblastoma in patients is under-investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of GDNF, GDNF family receptor 1-4 (GFRA1-4), and the downstream REarranged during Transfection (RET) receptor in human glioblastoma tissue by RNA in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence. Expression was quantified by software-based classifiers. The results showed that GDNF was expressed in approximately 10% of tumor cells. The GFRA1 receptor was widely expressed in tumor cells, often colocalizing with the astrocytic tumor cell marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and in a smaller fraction of tumor cells expressing the stem cell markers oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (OLIG2) and SRY-Box Transcription Factor 2 (SOX2). The GFRA2 receptor expression was very limited, whereas expression of GFRA3, GFRA4, and RET, respectively, was almost absent. In conclusion, GDNF and its primary receptor GFRA1 were expressed in patient glioblastoma tissue. Potential clinical value needs further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":16079,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry","volume":" ","pages":"221554251374108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12477178/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1369/00221554251374108","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Glioblastoma is the most frequent and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults, and the prognosis is poor. The neurotrophic factor glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptors, which are involved in neuronal development, have in experimental studies been suggested to drive tumorigenic processes in glioblastoma, but the role and expression in glioblastoma in patients is under-investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of GDNF, GDNF family receptor 1-4 (GFRA1-4), and the downstream REarranged during Transfection (RET) receptor in human glioblastoma tissue by RNA in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence. Expression was quantified by software-based classifiers. The results showed that GDNF was expressed in approximately 10% of tumor cells. The GFRA1 receptor was widely expressed in tumor cells, often colocalizing with the astrocytic tumor cell marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and in a smaller fraction of tumor cells expressing the stem cell markers oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (OLIG2) and SRY-Box Transcription Factor 2 (SOX2). The GFRA2 receptor expression was very limited, whereas expression of GFRA3, GFRA4, and RET, respectively, was almost absent. In conclusion, GDNF and its primary receptor GFRA1 were expressed in patient glioblastoma tissue. Potential clinical value needs further investigation.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry (JHC) has been a pre-eminent cell biology journal for over 50 years. Published monthly, JHC offers primary research articles, timely reviews, editorials, and perspectives on the structure and function of cells, tissues, and organs, as well as mechanisms of development, differentiation, and disease. JHC also publishes new developments in microscopy and imaging, especially where imaging techniques complement current genetic, molecular and biochemical investigations of cell and tissue function. JHC offers generous space for articles and recognizing the value of images that reveal molecular, cellular and tissue organization, offers free color to all authors.